3.07.2008

Kent Eats and Reads

Kent's solid food consumption is getting a little better, and he's now building up his repertoire even more. He's tried several foods that didn't go over well the first time, so we'll try them again soon, like avocado (sad). Really, nothing went over well the very first time he tried it, so I'm not too worried. At this point, he's eating sweet potatoes, bananas, and pears with great gusto, and he'll eat just about anything mixed with those (like sweet potatoes and apples, pears and carrots, etc.). He still has funky days, like today, when I catch him in the wrong mood and he won't open his mouth, even to laugh at me when I do something silly to try to get him to open his mouth. He's chased Cheerios around the tray a few more times but still hasn't put any more in his mouth after that first night.

I'm pretty proud of myself that I haven't bought any commercial baby food yet. Everything he's eaten has been something I cooked (except bananas) and mashed for him, and it's been working out so well. I mash up a little banana on the spot, but everything else lends itself well to being done in a big batch on a Saturday, then frozen in little cubes and defrosted as needed. Our steamer and our food mill (basically a ricer) make the whole process a snap. It hardly takes any time at all, and this way, he gets to enjoy fresh (or mostly fresh) foods, and we get to save a ton of money and plastic by not buying stuff off the shelf.

I just got my Amazon box yesterday and have read part of the intro to First Meals but haven't really gotten to the recipes or suggestions of age-appropriate foods yet. I hope that'll happen this weekend. We also got two new board books for Kent that I'm very excited to have, A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni and Gossie by Olivier Dunrea. Both are excellent books that I'd wanted to order for a while.

I love having new books. Kent also appears to love them, as they've passed his new forehead test. For some reason, he's started holding books and toys with both hands, then placing them on his forehead. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. It's very silly, and we love it.